GET REEL: Mom movies dressed to thrill

Bob Tremblay @BobTremblay_MW

Sunday

May 12, 2019 at 1:00 AM

It is Mother’s Day today and what better way to celebrate this event than by watching a costume drama, you know, those historical period films where the characters wear clothes you can’t find at Target. “What aisle are the whalebone corsets in?"

Now I’m sure there are some mothers out there who don’t like costume dramas and really don’t like gender stereotypes (yes, I’m sure there are fathers who like costume dramas, too), but I’m going to forge ahead anyway and list costume dramas ideal for mothers and daughters (OK, and sons, too).

First, let’s set the ground rules. Anyone familiar with costume dramas knows that England nearly has a monopoly on this genre so we’ll try to add some other countries to the mix. Also, space for this column is limited so we’re only listing 12 films. My initial list of favorites reached 30 in about a minute. Suffice it to say this genre has not been ignored by filmmakers. Finally, we’ll try to vary the tone so not every film listed here ends with the woman getting the man of her dreams as the end credits roll.

THE AGE OF INNOCENCE (1993) – Based on Edith Wharton’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, this film follows the dictum that you can't always get what you want and you don’t always get what you need, with apologies to the Rolling Stones. Anyone expecting a bucolic ending here should simply look at the credits and see that the director is Martin Scorsese, not exactly known as Mr. Mirth. Set in 1870s New York, the film focuses on a relationship where love and marriage wage an emotional tug of war. You might be tempted to call the film’s title ironic. The cast is first-rate: Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder, Michelle Pfeiffer and Richard E. Grant, all of whom have been nominated for Academy Awards during their careers with Day-Lewis winning three times. The film itself won the Oscar for best costume design.

DANGEROUS LIAISONS (1988) – Truth in advertising here. Based on the play “Les liaisons dangereuses,” the film provides a showcase for bad behavior among the upper class in Paris before the French Revolution made headway, so to speak. The superb cast includes Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Pfeiffer (again), Uma Thurman and, of course, Keanu Reeves. The film received seven Academy Award nominations, including best picture, best actress (Close) and best supporting actress (Pfeiffer). It won three Oscars, including best costume design. Stephen Frears directs.

THE FAVOURITE (2018) – OK, I’m not sure I’d recommend this film for a mom and a young son or daughter since the characters in this film get rather intimate, but it does give said actresses – Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone – a chance to strut their stuff, so to speak. Set in 1708 England, the film plays out as a royal power struggle with two women vying for the affections of Queen Anne. One is her adviser, the other an interloper. Who wins? I’ll never tell. The film was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including best film, best director (Yorgos Lanthimos), best actress (Colman), best supporting actress (Weisz and Stone), best screenplay and best costume design. The sole winner was Colman.

GONE WITH THE WIND (1939) – Yes, this film contains deplorable racist stereotypes, but the acting, the story and the costumes are all too memorable to merit a dismissal. Just set aside an afternoon or evening as the film is almost 4 hours long. Based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell, the film focuses on Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh), who really wants Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard), and Rhett Butler (Clark Gable), who really wants Scarlett O’Hara, but… wait, we’ll have no spoilers here. Set in the South during the Civil War, the film won 10 Academy Awards (eight competitive, two honorary), including best picture, best director (Victor Fleming) best actress (Leigh), best supporting actress (Hattie McDaniel) and best screenplay (Sidney Howard). Oscars for best costume design weren’t bestowed until 1948.

HOWARDS END (1992) and THE REMAINS OF THE DAY (1993) – A dandy daily double here as they both feature the acting talents of Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson (more on her later), the screenwriting skills of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala) and the directing/producing prowess of James Ivory and Ismail Merchant, who basically cornered the market on costume dramas in the 1990s. In the former film, based on the novel by E.M. Forster and set in 1910 England, class distinctions head on a collision course driven, as it so often is, by romance. The film received nine Academy award nominations, including best picture. The supporting cast includes Vanessa Redgrave and Helena Bonham Carter. The film won three Oscars: best actress (Thompson), best screenplay (Jhabvala) and best art direction/set decoration. In the latter film, based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro and set in 1930s England, Hopkins plays a very uptight butler and Thompson a less uptight housekeeper. Let's just say the two have relationship issues. Adding to the fun and games is that the lord of their manor is a Nazi sympathizer. The supporting cast includes James Fox, Christopher Reeve and Hugh Grant. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including best picture, best actor, best actress, best director, best screenplay and best costume design.

LITTLE WOMEN – There’s no lacking of cinematic versions based on the Louisa May Alcott novel about the four March sisters navigating the stormy transition from childhood to adulthood in 19th-century New England. You have your choice of the 1933 version starring Katharine Hepburn, Joan Bennett, Frances Dee and Jean Parker, the 1949 version starring Elizabeth Taylor, Janet Leigh, June Allyson and Margaret O’Brien, and the 1994 version starring Winona Ryder, Trini Alvarado and Claire Danes while Kirsten Dunst and Samantha Mathis play the younger and older Amy March, respectively. That cast also includes Oscar winners Susan Sarandon and Christian Bale. If you can wait, another version is due out Christmas Day. Directed by Greta Gerwig, it stars Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen and Emma Watson. The cast also includes Oscar winner Meryl Streep. It marks the film adaptation of the novel.

PRIDE & PREJUDICE (1940 or 2005), EMMA (1996), SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (1995) and BECOMING JANE (2007) – No list of costume dramas would be complete without a nod – or four nods in this case – to English novelist Jane Austen (1775-1817), whose female characters treat marriage like a contact sport. With “Pride,” you have your choice of the 2005 film starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfayden or the 1940 version starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier. In “Pride,” looking for financial security, a mother wants to marry her five daughters off post-haste. Of course, things don’t go smoothly, especially for Elizabeth, who doesn’t swoon when she first meets Mr. Darcy. Which one to watch? I'd choose the 1940 version. Come on, it’s Garson and Olivier. The film also won an Oscar for art direction. The 2005 film received four Oscar nods, including best actress, best art direction and best costume design.

In “Emma,” the title character, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, plays a matchmaker who finds romance for others but has trouble finding it for herself. The film won an Oscar for best music and was nominated for best costume design. The supporting cast includes Toni Collette, Alan Cumming, Ewan McGregor and Sophie Thompson, who just happens to Emma’s younger sister.

Speaking of Emma Thompson, she’s back in “Sense and Sensibility,” another novel penned by Ms. Austen, this one dealing with the Dashwood sisters who come from money but soon find themselves destitute. What to do? Sell drugs? Barter their bodies? Rob banks? Marry rich guys? Guess which option the ladies choose. Directed by Ang Lee, the film stars Thompson as one of the sisters with Kate Winslet playing her younger sibling. Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman play the suitors. Thompson also wrote the film’s screenplay, snagging the Oscar in the process and becoming the only thespian so far to win both acting and writing Academy Awards. The movie was also nominated for best picture, best actress, best supporting actress and best costume design.

Finally, there’s “Becoming Jane,” a biopic on Austen’s early life and her romantic “interest” with one Thomas Lefroy. Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy play the leads and Julian Jarrold directs. In this movie, Austen's life reads like one of her books.

ROMEO AND JULIET (1968) – No film costume drama would be complete without including this classic film based on a play by some guy named Shakespeare. Directed by Franco Zefferelli, the film stars Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey in the title roles. The movie won Oscars for best cinematography and best costume design and was nominated for best picture and best director. Everything about this film is stunning – the sets, the music, the acting and, yes, the costumes. Oh, and the writing isn’t too shabby. If you want see the bard involved in an imaginary love affair, check out “Shakespeare in Love.” The 1998 film won seven Oscars, including best picture, best actress (Paltrow), best supporting actress (Judi Dench), best screenplay and - wait for it - best costume design. So that’s technically 13 films, but math was never my strong suit. My original list included "Cleopatra," "The Lion in Winter," "A Little Princess," "Elizabeth," "Belle," "Cold Mountain," "The King and I" and "My Fair Lady."